New NAMB Chief Seeks Quicker Prosecutions

The new president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers has called for an industry-government alliance at the state and local level to expose and, most importantly, to prosecute predatory lenders.Bob Armbruster, a broker from Lawrenceville, Ga., outside Atlanta, envisions a system that would "grease the judicial process" to bring bad actors to court more quickly." Mr. Armbruster admitted his idea is "a little visionary," and said he's still not sure about all the legal whys and wherefores. But he told MortgageWire at the NAMB's annual convention in Salt Lake City that if state and local authorities don't take some steps to curb abusive lending practices, federal regulators will. "The feds are loaded up, so the states need to act more effectively and quicker," the 40-year housing finance veteran said. "As it is now, it takes five years to get predatory lenders into court. We need to lubricate the process." The new NAMB president, who heads Armbruster Mortgage, also vowed not only to continue his predecessor A.W. Pickel's efforts to create a national registry of all loan originators, but also to formalize the effort within the now 24,000-member association's governing system. Mr. Pickel said during a news conference that interest in a registry that would report and track unscrupulous players is growing. "I think more people than ever favor it," he said, noting that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration, and even the Federal Trade Commission have indicated their interest in a self-policing system to eliminate the business's rotten apples.